Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-02

/ ton, the able editor, VINO IL now retired,
! because he is not so "juuiOr" rs he once
was Only five of the 80 sgners of that
cali are now living, namely: Thr two
| Cheneys, Mr. WALTON, Joseph w. HOWe5
and Chauncey l.. Knapp.
The Specific Germ of ryphoi Fever.
From the Engineering and Building Record.l
That typhoid fever is due to particular
kind of bdcll as has for several years been
considered extremely probable by those
who have investigated the subject. Mr..
Desmond Fiiz Gerald, a well-known engi-
neer of Boston, recently wrote letter TO
the Boston Adcrttzer, from Paris, in which
he gives an account of recent investiga-
tions OF this subject made by Drs. Chan
tennessee and Vidal, and declares, as the
result OF bis observations, that ne now
has no doubt that the disease may be com
municated by means OF bacllli carried in
drinking water The water-supply of
Paris comes from several sources.
"Of these the Nanue is undoubtedly an
excellent water, and there is no danger 10
be unprecedented from its use. lnlortu-
nateiy, almost every year the water ron
this source fails to be sufficient in quaint
ty, and tuen the water from the Selue and
Other polluted sources is turned INTO Ger
tain quarters of the city. 1t has been no
tced tor several years that when this takes
place the number Of typhoid cases tmme-
diatelY increases. Chantemesse and Wi
dial have been able to show that these pol
luted waters contain the bacili of typhoid
fever.
In 1852 there were 3.3j9 deaths in Paris
from typhoid. In the first six months OF
the year there were go deaths. In Aug
ust the deaths from TINS cause reached 30,
in September 21j, and in October he mum
7 increased a
Der dieminl~hed again rapidly in Nuven-
Der aud December. During this time
much of the waters of the Seine, the
/ Ourcq and the Marine were distributed
for drinking purpo- es, and IN the llth and
l2th ACCOMPLISHMENTS there was scarcely
any other water in August, September,
and October exc 4ptiug that OF the Seine.
/ Among the tiremen of the city 1t was
found that there We're very few deaths
/ among hose who drank the Nanne, while
/ there were many cases among those who
drank from the sewage charged waters.
| Dr. Chautemcs~e told me that he mad
| been able - propagate colonies of the ty-
| phOid buclll IN the water OF the Seine Tor
more than three months, and that they
! lost nothing OF their activity at the end ui
that time.
In nineteen cases out of twenty OF per
sons suffering from typhoid fever DE-.
| Chanteme>se told me he had never tailed
find the typhoid baclli IN certain portions
of the body The moment cOuvalescence
begins the bacillus disappears.
Ia the IN ddle of the summer of lSS6 a
ia mily compose Il of seven persons innablt
ed house in the Rue DIES RO,selnes
Menilmontant Five Of them were at
tackled with typhoid fever and sent to the
hospital. They had been drinking the
water from the public fountain in theil
nelghberhood, in which DR. ChantetnesSt
found the living baClllnS OF the typhoid. IL
an epidemic AT Plerr fonds the water of The
wells was found to contain the same ba
cillus. At Clermont- Ferrand, a city III
the Auvergne mountains and capital OF
the Puy de DJme there was an epidemic
a short time since of typhoid. The connec
ton between the cases in that city ana tn,
water supply WAS traced by DR.. Chante
messe The fol oWingl eXperim Mt wa
made to show the persistence of the ty
phod bacillus A flask was filled with wa
ter, and in the bottom Of the flask a LITTLE
earth was introduced. Some colonies o
the bacillus were cultivated in the water
. At the end of two months the water, hav
ing failed to show the presence of specific
germs or spores, was decanted gently, anC
ordinary water put into the flask on TOT
of the and earth remaining in the flask
The next day this water was found charg
ed with the typhoid bacillus. The expert
ment shows the importance or mos
J thorough cleaning CT the bottom and side
, os reservoirs, aqueducts, etc, which hav
r been exposed TO the bacl luS, and il ais
J applies to the interior surfaces of pipes.
The village of Monts is divided int
two portion, in 1873, two cases of typhoi
fever appeared among some children
Their linen va, washed in the water from
. VIII Oh the lower portion OF the village tool
70 its supply. In a short time an epldemi
, broke ont i'm this portion of the village
} and If was arrested after the watersuppl
was abandoned. This was rather a strik
O., ing case. for out of 80 inhabitants of tn
I lower portion IA were attacked, and thos